TWC Price increase

Interesting. That's DOCSIS 3 and the one they are leasing me is just a 2 (although 2 is good enough for my 15 Mbps-rated service).

At $82 vs. $6/mo lease, my break-even point would be just 14 mos., but doesn't this just give them another place to point the finger when you want support for an internet problem? (I've experienced the finger pointing syndrome in spades with my Tivo and TWC cable TV.) I have had internet problems and they've swapped the modems several times for troubleshooting -- although the modem was never the problem.

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I have the 15Mbps Earthlink through TWC. Before getting this modem, I had a TWC DOCSIS 2 modem. While it obviously did not increase my peak speads since those are capped by TWC, switching from the DOCSIS 2 to the DOCSIS 3 modem greatly improved the stability and reliability of my internet connection. Since D2 only uses one channel, if there is any sort of interference on that channel it will adversely affect your internet connection. Since the D3 modem uses multiple channels, interference on one channel can be compensated for by the other channels. Before switching, my download speeds would fluctuate from 5 to 16 Mbps when I would test it. Now, I pretty much get a solid 16.3 Mbps no matter what.

My new modem also seems to handle any network problems much more gracefully than my old TWC modem did. I remember back when I had the TWC D2, I would have to reboot it every few weeks, but I've had the D3 modem for over 6 months and have not had to reboot it once. I highly recommend you upgrade to a DOCSIS 3 modem regardless of what your internet speed cap is.

I take it you haven't had to request any support from the ISP after installing the new modem. I'm still concerned about them evading responsibility by blaming user-supplied equipment. In the last three years I've had two bouts of internet dropouts that were caused by problems outside my home. But the first thing they do is swap modems because it's so easy to do.

What did you have to do to get the system to connect to your modem? Just a phone call?

In the last three years I've had two bouts of internet dropouts that were caused by problems outside my home. But the first thing they do is swap modems because it's so easy to do.

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And if you ever have problems going forward, it is just as simple to swap out your modem with a TWC modem to see if the modem is the problem or not. TWC will prorate fees on your bill, so if you put one of their modems on your account for a day to test it, it'll cost you all of about 20 cents.

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You can say the exact same thing about owning a TiVo rather than the cable company's DVR/cable boxes.

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Yes, and it's a PITA. But one doesn't have a choice in that case -- unless you like Cable Co DVR's. In the case of the Internet modem, I have a choice that isn't too hateful. I don't have to power cycle my modem every few weeks like you did.

And if you ever have problems going forward, it is just as simple to swap out your modem with a TWC modem to see if the modem is the problem or not. TWC will prorate fees on your bill, so if you put one of their modems on your account for a day to test it, it'll cost you all of about 20 cents.

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Well I agree that is simple, and the logical way it **should** work, but will they really do it that way? -- it appears you haven't actually had this experience, correct? (Since you haven't had any Internet problems after installing your new modem).

Yes, and it's a PITA. But one doesn't have a choice in that case -- unless you like Cable Co DVR's. In the case of the Internet modem, I have a choice that isn't too hateful. I don't have to power cycle my modem every few weeks like you did.

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My old DOCSIS 2 modem from Time Warner was as inferior to my current DOCSIS 3 modem as my old Time Warner DVR was to my TiVo. But hey, if you want to pay Time Warner a rental fee for an inferior modem rather than buy a new modem that will pay for itself in about a year, that's your prerogative. But for me, anything I can do to improve my service while at the same time keep more of my money in my pocket and out of Time Warner's greedy pockets is a win-win for me.

Well I agree that is simple, and the logical way it **should** work, but will they really do it that way? -- it appears you haven't actually had this experience, correct? (Since you haven't had any Internet problems after installing your new modem).

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Seriously? I pay them to provide me internet service and you actually think that if I ask them to provide me a modem that is required to receive that service that they would say "no, you will just have to use the internet service you pay us for without a modem"? That would be like a rental car company renting me a car without tires. I am 100% confident that if I go down to the TWC office tomorrow and tell them I am having trouble with my modem and want to get a TWC modem put on my account that they would hand me one without hesitation.

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Seriously? I pay them to provide me internet service and you actually think that if I ask them to provide me a modem that is required to receive that service that they would say "no, you will just have to use the internet service you pay us for without a modem"? That would be like a rental car company renting me a car without tires. I am 100% confident that if I go down to the TWC office tomorrow and tell them I am having trouble with my modem and want to get a TWC modem put on my account that they would hand me one without hesitation.

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That's logical, probably correct, although you don't deal with **my** TWC (Southwest Ohio) which strikes me as one of the more clueless TWC regions. I'm not confident of a reasonable response in this situation until it's verified by experience. I don't recall them ever doing something for me "without hesitation" (other than sending my monthly bill ).

But even if true, the drive time to my TWC office is 35 mins, so the round trip time to pick up that modem, allowing time spent in office, approaches 1.5 hours. This compares with less than 5 minutes to swap a leased modem (the tech just gets one from his truck). Admittedly I might have to wait 3 days for the tech to arrive.

If anyone located in the TWC SW Ohio region (Cincy, Dayton areas) is using their own cable modem, I would be interested in hearing their experiences regarding modem swaps as part of Internet support issues.

That's logical, probably correct, although you don't deal with **my** TWC (Southwest Ohio) which strikes me as one of the more clueless TWC regions. I'm not confident of a reasonable response in this situation until it's verified by experience. I don't recall them ever doing something for me "without hesitation" (other than sending my monthly bill ).

But even if true, the drive time to my TWC office is 35 mins, so the round trip time to pick up that modem, allowing time spent in office, approaches 1.5 hours. This compares with less than 5 minutes to swap a leased modem (the tech just gets one from his truck). Admittedly I might have to wait 3 days for the tech to arrive.

If anyone located in the TWC SW Ohio region (Cincy, Dayton areas) is using their own cable modem, I would be interested in hearing their experiences regarding modem swaps as part of Internet support issues.

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For someone who uses a TiVo rather than your cable company DVR, it amazes me how resistant you seem to be to the idea of getting your own modem. A TiVo is much more difficult to get working properly and much more prone to possible technical glitches on a cable company's system than a user-owned modem is.

For someone who uses a TiVo rather than your cable company DVR, it amazes me how resistant you seem to be to the idea of getting your own modem. A TiVo is much more difficult to get working properly and much more prone to possible technical glitches on a cable company's system than a user-owned modem is.

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I have enough hassle keeping my Tivo going without adding possible additional hassle with the modem, even if it's less than would apply to a Tivo. I'm not sure it's worth it to save the $5.99/mo. (plus improve Internet performance -- although mine is quite acceptable already). Now if the savings or performance boost was much greater that would be a different story.

Anyway thanks for the info, and I guess you'll have to continue being amazed.

Didn't read all the replies but scanned down through the tread to see if you got the issue resolved and didn't see anything.

The price change may not be related to your call, call them back this happened to us last year and I know I have to watch my statement again come May 2014.

You must have called them a year ago and they put you into a 1 year package, when the package is up the prices get changed and they are outrageous.

Soon as you call they will put you back into a new package again, they did us.

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Thanks, that is what I intend to do. Looking at their website they still have Standard internet(15mb) for 34.99/mo. for 12 months. And if they start charging for my modem (I believe they are not because I have EarthLink) I will not hesitate to purchase my own. Payback in about a year SEEMS like a no brainer.

Whoah, I can get Earthlink's 56kbps dial up internet service for only $9.95/month, where do I sign up?!?!?!

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Several years ago I wound up as an Earthlink dial up customer after they bought out the ISP who bought out...(insert chain of ISPs here) who bought out the original mom and pop dial up ISP I started with.

A few years later it had gotten up to $22 a month (with 8 email addresses possible, including some on the previous domain which I don't want to give up, so I'm in effect held hostage), and switching over to Earthlink's lowest speed over TWC cable was $30 a month, so I did that.

I've exchanged the provided cable modem a few times (even though I doubt the problem was ever the modem, but the change of serial numbers seems to trigger something that fixes the problem for awhile), and the use of the modem is part of the package at no additional cost.

There's been more than one time where calling with a problem meant TWC told me to call Earthlink and Earthlink told me to call TWC.

If not for wanting to keep my old email addresses, I'd have no particular loyalty to Earthlink, and if I wanted to start from scratch with a dial up account, I'd go with BasicISP at (currently) $8.95 per month (which includes one email address at least, maybe more)

The reason I know about BasicISP is because a few years ago I was having cable modem problems and falling back to Earthlink dial up (you get like 20 hours a month of dial up included with their cable package, supposedly for checking email away from home and stuff), the dial up wasn't working worth diddly either.

You can sign up with BasicISP on a month by month basis, no commitment, and it's as good speed wise as Earthlink dial up ever was, and when you call on the phone you get a real human here in the US in fairly short order.

I've exchanged the provided cable modem a few times (even though I doubt the problem was ever the modem, but the change of serial numbers seems to trigger something that fixes the problem for awhile), and the use of the modem is part of the package at no additional cost.

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Not for much longer. TWC's modem rental fee will be extended to Earthlink customers in the next month or two.

Comcast imposes the 300GB cap on Xfinity customers, not Comcast Business Line customers. That is why the difference in pricing between the two tiers.

Its actually not a cap at all, its included data, extra data is charged like extra minutes on your cell phone plan. Upgrading to Business Line gets unlimited. $10 for 50GB I think.

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You need to realize that your info about Comcast is local. Comparatively few Conmcast franchises have caps now, and the details vary between franchises. The caps are undoubtedly coming to the rest of us, but not quite yet.